The health of two hunger strikers held in Turkish government custody who have not eaten for 118 days is rapidly deteriorating, according to their lawyers, who have urged the authorities to respond to their demands before the damage to their bodies becomes irreversible.

Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça, two teachers who were dismissed from their jobs in a broad government crackdown after a coup attempt last year, launched the hunger strike nearly four months ago and were taken into custody in May because of fears their protest could escalate into broader street demonstrations.

“They can still become healthy, but time is running out,” said Behiç Aşçı, one of their lawyers. “The government should take action immediately. This is not the end, but the end is near.”

Gülmen and Özakça’s case has become a symbol of the suffering of tens of thousands of Turks dismissed or detained in the government’s attempt to root out followers of Fethullah Gülen from the civil service, media and academia. The government accuses the exiled preacher’s movement of orchestrating last year’s coup.

The purge has gone far beyond the alleged perpetrators to encompass various dissident groups and even lawmakers in the opposition.

The hunger strike has refocused attention on heavy-handed police tactics and the government’s attempts to quash dissent. Gülmen and Özakça’s arrest occurred on the day they were scheduled to be interviewed by the Guardian, and their lawyers have said the reason they were detained is to prevent their protest from spiralling into a “Gezi-style” protest movement, a reference to the large demonstrations against the government in Istanbul’s Taksim Square in 2013.

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“Some people think if Nuriye and Semih are let go they will stop the strike, but what they demand is not only their freedom, but their jobs, and justice,” said Aşçı. “Until they get this, they will not stop their strike.”

He added: “They can still stop the strike if they get their jobs back and survive and become healthy people. Their situation is not irreversible.”

Before they were detained, the two hunger strikers were surviving on a diet of lemon, saltwater and sugar solutions, but lawyers say their health has suffered since, with the government failing to provide them with necessary equipment to ease their condition. They said Gülmen was suffering from muscle atrophy and could barely drink water, and Özakça’s eyesight was deteriorating. Both were beginning to exhibit heart irregularities.

Senior political figures in the opposition have urged the pair to end their hunger strike to save their lives, but they have persisted.

“The only thing they know is how to try to make us bow down with their guns,” said Veli Saçılık, a well-known activist who also launched a protest in the capital, Ankara, demanding his job back after he was dismissed last year. “The government is ruling the country arbitrarily.”

Saçılık, who lost his arm during a crackdown on hunger strikers in prison in 2000, is under investigation by the government. On Monday, his shoulder was broken in an altercation with police during a protest.